hoyte



-- (NoModel-J v P. L. HOYTE & W. T. WOOD.

MEASURING MECHANISM FOR BOX 0R CAN FILLING MACHINES.

No. 602,330. Patented Apr. 12, 1898.

Inventors W ithesses.

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UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

PHIL L. I-IOYTE AND WILLIAM T. WOOD, OF NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE; SAID WOOD ASSIGNOR TO SAID HOYTE.

MEASURING MECHANISM FOR BOX OR CAN FILLING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 602,330, dated April 12, 1898.

Application filed April 29, 1897. Serial No. 634,425. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, PHIL L. HOYTE and WILLIAM T. WOOD, citizens of the United States,residingat Nashville,Davidson county, State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Measuring Mechanism for Box or Can Filling Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to machines for filling receptacles with powdered substances or other material, and more particularly to a measuring device for use in connection with such machines.

Our object is to provide a measuring device for machines of the character designated which will be positive and effective in operation, accurate in measuring the material delivered from the hopper, and which will, fur-' thermore, be of simple construction and capable of being readily adapted to the type of can or box filling machines in which the cans or boxes are supported upon a rotary carrier operated intermittently to bring the said re-' ceptacles successively under the feed-hopper for filling-such, for example, as that described and claimed in our pending application for Letters Patent of the United States, Serial No. 621,510, filed February 1, 1897, although it is to be understood that the present invention is not confined in its application to this particular machine.

In our application above noted we have described and claimed a telescopic spout on the feed-hopper, in connection with a chamber divided into measuring compartments by means of a vaned wheel, and in the operation of which the spout is raised and lowered by the elevation and depression of the receptacle, and the device of our present invention is designed to be readily substituted for such measuring mechanism, more particularly when it is necessary to fill the can or receptacle even with the top, the material being discharged in the present case directly into the can or receptacle instead of through a discharge-spout.

In the present casewe have shown so much of a filling-machine as is necessary to illustrate the application of our measuring device thereto, the parts thus illustrated being simiout in the claims, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of our invention applied to a rotary-carrier machine. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a partial bottom plan view. Fig. 4 is a detail of driving-gear.

Referring noW to the drawings, in which the same reference characters relate to the same parts in the several views, A designates the feed-hopper, into which the material is fed by a suitable chute or otherwise through an opening 0. in the top, and B is the rotary carrier, upon which are mounted the box or can holders C, These parts are preferably made as shown in our aforesaid application, the holders 0 being connected to the carrier B by hinge -j oints b, consisting of pintles I), extending from the holders and passing through brackets 19', secured to the frame of the carrier, the said holders being normally held u pright bysprings b, connecting the pintles and brackets. Such a connection permits of the boxes being turnedwhen passing through the machine, if too tall, thus avoiding injury to the machine or box.

The boxes are seated in the holders upon plungers D, which are mounted in sockets E on the carrier B, which plungers in the present instance serve merely as a rest for said boxes and are shown here for the purpose only of illustrating the manner of substitution of the present form of measuring device for that described in our prior application.

The rotary carrier is mounted on a spindle p, which is intermittently operated through the bevel-gear g on a shaft h, which is driven by a spur-gear 7t, meshing with a mutilated gear I, driven from any suitable source of power.

The construction thus far described is not claimed herein, as it forms part of the subjectmatter of the aforesaid application, and we will now proceed to describe-in detail the invention claimed herein.

In our present invention 0 is a plate or disk having near its periphery an aperture 0, corresponding to and forming a continuation of the aperture in the bottom of the hopper and fixedly mounted upon the spindle 0 secured to a bracket 0 attached to the side of the hopper. Journaled upon said spindle, below the plate 0, is a star-shaped wheel d, the peripheral indentations or recesses of which correspond in number to the number of boxholders on the carrier, which recesses are adapted to be engaged by the boxes as they are moved successively under the hopper by the intermittent operation of the rotary carrier.

Confined between the plate a and the star wheel cl is a thin plate or disk e of metal or other suitable material, provided near its periphery with perforations c, likewise corresponding in number with the number of boxholders,the said perforations or apertures registering with the recesses or indentations of the star-wheel, to which star-wheel the said disk 6 is secured, so as to rotate therewith, below the hopper-discharge, the imperforate portion of the plate and wheel normally closin g the hopper-discharge.

The disks 0 and e are preferably separated by a washer, consisting of a thin piece of felt 0 f or other suitable material, attached to the upper disk for the purpose of keeping the plates or disks clean and free from the material passing to the boxes or cans and also to prevent friction and wear.

In operation as the box or can comes in contact with the star-wheel, as shown in Fig. 3, the said box causes the latter to rotate until one of the apertures e registers with the aperture c in the disk 0, at which time the carrier rests, during which period of rest the box is filled even with the top. The box is moved by the next movement of the carrier, rotating the star-wheel until one of the apertures e is on each side of the aperture 0, the imperforate portion of the plate e thus completely closing the outlet for the hopper and cutting off the supply of material and leaving the material in the box even with the top until another box engages the star-wheel, when the operation above described is repeated and the filled box is moved away from the star-wheel.

It will be understood that the box-holders may be rigidly mounted on the carrier, so far as the present invention is concerned, and that our measuring device can be applied to any other form of intermittently-rotated carrier.

Instead of the star-wheel it is obvious that the plate 6 may be provided with projections corresponding to the points of said wheel, the central portion of the wheel being thus omitted, without materially affecting the scope of our invention.

We claim as our invention- 1. In a machine for filling boxes, the combination of an intermittently-rotated carrier, box-holders on said carrier having boxes therein, and a feed-hopper having a dischargeopening in the bottom, of a plate provided with a series of holes near its periphery corresponding in number to the number of boxholders and mounted to rotate under and in contact with the discharge of the hopper and in contact with the tops of the boxes, a starwheel attached to the bottom of the plate hav ing its recesses registering with the holes in the plate, and means for intermittently rotating the carrier to cause the boxes to successively engage the star-wheel, whereby the plate is turned to bring the holes successively in register with the discharge-opening in the hopper and with the boxes, substantially as described.

2. In a machine for filling boxes, the combination with an intermittently-rotated carrier, box-holders on said carrier having boxes therein, and a feed-hopper having a disch argeopening in the bottom, of a plate fixedly mounted on one side of the hopper having an opening in its periphery registering with and forming a continuation of the discharge of the hopper, a plate or disk having a series of openings near its periphery and rotatably mounted below and in close proximity to said fixed plate, a star-wheel attached to the bottom of said rotating plate or disk with its recesses registering with the openings therein, and adapted to be engaged by the boxes in succession as the latter are rotated by the carrier to cause the said boxes to bring the perforations in the rotary plate in register with the openings of the fixed plate and the box, substantially as described. 3. In a machine for filling boxes, &c., the combination with an intermittently-rotated carrier, box-holders on said carrier having boxes therein, and a feed-hopper having a discharge-openin g in the bottom, of a disk mounted on said hopper below the dischargeopening and having a perforation near its periphery registering with said discharge-opening, a plate journaled on the hopper below said fixed plateand having a series of perforations near its periphery adapted to register with the perforation in the fixed plate, a washer of suitable material interposed between the two said plates, a star-wheel attached to the bottom of the rotating plate having its indentations or recesses registering with the perforations in said plate and adapted to be engaged by the boxes, substantially as described.

4:. In a machine for filling boxes, &c., the combination with an intermittently-rotated box-carrier, box-holders on said carrier having boxes therein, and a vertical feed-hopper having a discharge-opening in the bottom of a disk or plate provided with a series of openings near its periphery journaled on the side of the hopper so as to rotate under and in contact with the opening in the hopper, and normally closing the said opening, of means carried by said plate adapted to be engaged by the boxes in succession for causing the plate to rotate incontact with the tops of the boxes In" testimony wher eof we havesigned our and bring the openings'successively in i egisnames to this specification in the presence of 10 ter with the discharge-opening in the hopper two subscribing witnesses.

and with the boxes, whereby the said boxes PHIL L. HOYTE.

are caused to be filled even with the top with WILLIAM T. WOOD. materialas the hopper-discharge is opened Witnesses:

and closed by-said plate, substantially as de-- 'F. E; MILLER,

scribed. W Y EDJV. JONES. 

